Share

Sir Stirling Moss buys an Aston Martin Cygnet

Automotive legend Sir Stirling Moss has found the perfect birthday gift for his wife - an Aston Martin Cygnet

Automotive legend Sir Stirling Moss has found the perfect birthday gift for his wife - an Aston Martin Cygnet.

"My greatest partner in everything that I do, Susie is an amazing person and frankly the best wife a man could have. Since seeing a pre-production Cygnet in January I knew that it was the perfect car for Susie; a proper little piece of British luxury and perfect for our life in town," says Moss.

Sir Stirling and Lady Moss held a private dinner at the Royal Automobile Club clubhouse at the palace on Pall Mall in London where she was presented with her gift.

At the prestigious Royal Automobile Club last night, international motorsport legend, Sir Stirling Moss took delivery of his newly purchased Aston Martin Cygnet; a surprise birthday present for wife, Lady Moss.

One of the closest teams in motorsport for many years, Sir Stirling and Lady Moss planned a private celebratory dinner on the eve of her birthday at the Royal Automobile Club in its clubhouse the century old, ‘palace on Pall Mall' in London. On arrival they were met with the sight of the new Aston Martin Cygnet on display in the magnificent central rotunda - the culmination of six months planning and ‘secret' correspondence between Sir Stirling and Aston Martin to plan a surprise birthday present for Lady Moss.

Sir Stirling Moss said: "My greatest partner in everything that I do, Susie is an amazing person and frankly the best wife a man could have. Since seeing a pre-production Cygnet in January I knew that it was the perfect car for Susie; a proper little piece of British luxury and perfect for our life in town."

Hand-crafted at Aston Martin's headquarters in Gaydon, taking 150 hours to complete, the Aston Martin Cygnet shares much in terms of design and craftsmanship with the company's sports cars. Elegant and distinctive, individual and practical, the Aston Martin Cygnet is the ultimate Tailor-Fit solution for city living. Launched in May 2011 with first customer orders arriving at European dealers now, Cygnet is hand-crafted for the city and like every Aston Martin it can be uniquely personalised to suit individual taste and style, bringing a new level of luxury and bespoke capability to city cars.

Specifications for Lady Moss's car include Sir Stirling's choice of Aston Martin Racing Green, harking back to the company's sports cars that Sir Stirling raced in the 1950s, as the paint colour. This iconic exterior has been complemented by a simple and elegant interior hand crafted in Obsidian Black leather with a contrasting coarse silver stitch, forming a typically understated combination.

Adding to the occasion and its ongoing theme of long standing relationships with the marque, the Cygnet has been supplied through HWM Aston Martin, based in Walton-on- Thames, who were appointed as an official Aston Martin dealer in 1951. The longest serving of the company's global network of 134 dealers, HWM Aston Martin was started 60 years ago by fellow Aston Martin Works Driver George Abecassis who actually gave Sir Stirling his first Grand Prix drives in 1951/52 in HWM-built cars.

Sir Stirling's own driving career with Aston Martin saw him drive a number of the company's racing cars including the famous DB3S and DBR1 models with great success. This culminated in being part of the factory team that in 1959 secured the company the World Sportscar Championship following victories in the DBR1 at such prestigious races as the Le Mans 24-hour.

Its as much a Toyota IQ as a Bentley is a VW Phaeton- nderneath the same but a lot of work has gone into making it the Cygnet. I think its a bold move to create a small ultra-luxury car and at the moment they have the market to themselves... but the MINI goodwood will be the first of many rivals.
I cant wait to see the Cygnet go head to head with the MINI goodwood, Maserati 500, Bentley Lupo, Lincoln Ka etc...

imo...you need to consider the price difference between the VW Phaeton & the Bentley Continental. That would be around 40,000 British pounds...that buys alot of improvement. No matter how much you people like this Cygnet there is simply not enough re-engineering to make that type of substantial difference. This car is being produced due to fuel economy laws as simple as that and it will be true to it's Toyota IQ platform. Otherwise there is no point in this car as to make it perform like a true Aston Martin would wipe out any fuel economy corporate gains.

To Mister Stig. Would you buy one? Probably NOT.
Because every time you look at it. It will still be a Toyota. Nothing wrong with that. Only at the price Aston feel they can charge. Because of Dummies like you who refer to it as a Beast and feel it's a REAL Aston Martin.

I agree, it's rather ridiculous to pay the premium for a re-badged Toyota. Considering the platform it's built on the price would have to be much higher for any significant re-engineering. Let's not fool ourselves this is still a Toyota.

@Mister Stig - I don't know where you got that from. A magazine compared the two cars back-to-back and they're mechanically identical. The only difference from behind the wheel is that the seat is more comfortable. 1.33L Engine, the suspension, none of it has been changed.
It is literally a pimped-out, re-nosed iQ.